


The peaceful wars

by EternalSinner



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Background Rhea/Byleth and Edelgard/Byleth, Edelgard can do this let her have some fun, F/F, Fluff, I rewrote half the game for pwp, Polyamory, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, She's a little confused but she has the right spirit, basically frenemies with benefits at this point but they caught feelings hard tho, confused bottom attempts to top bewildered top, reversed mild dom/sub dynamics, they got so cute oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:09:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29984733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalSinner/pseuds/EternalSinner
Summary: Two years after the war ended more peacefully than Edelgard could ever have imagined she finds herself stuck in fighting shadow wars with an infuriating Archbishop in endless council meetings, until she finds herself fighting similar battles with said Archbishop in the bedroom as well.She doesn't mind that Rhea tends to be a bit demanding behind closed doors, finding enjoyment in the simplicity of catering to the needy woman on her own terms.That is until Byleth lets her know that the woman is much more gentle and loving with her, and that is simply unacceptable for Edelgard.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth/Rhea, Edelgard von Hresvelg/Rhea
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	The peaceful wars

**Author's Note:**

> I only really like writing d/s undertones if they aren't hard coded into someone's personality and have some sort of emotional or psychological incentive for them. One day I'll stop lying to myself and admit that doesn't make writing sex any more deep but today was not that day.

Edelgard knew herself to be a pragmatist and opportunist when it came down to it –now long having accepted that these could be good traits as well as motivations that would put her on a dark path of no return- so when she had found herself on the losing side of a war that lasted years longer than she had anticipated, along with the Agarthans pushing and pulling at her every chance they saw, she had been more open-minded than Byleth expected when the woman had cornered her in the midst of battle and insisted there was a way out without more death and violence.

Edelgard would do anything to achieve her goals and so if that meant prolonging her inevitable death a little longer so she could spend more time leaving her mark on the world and change it for the better she would seize that opportunity.

…Not as if Byleth had been aware Edelgard had been on the losing side, not yet at least. No, her former teacher thought she had more aces up her sleeve and had been distraught to learn Edelgard’s ultimate plan had been to sacrifice herself, turn herself in a literal monster for all to hate, and let her own death be a drive to bring out peace once more, hopefully shedding light on all the harm the Agarthans had done at the very least.

The Emperor had expected Byleth’s anger -and she had gotten her well-deserved portion of it- but hadn’t foreseen the utter relief her beloved teacher had felt she had been able to save Edelgard.

Hadn’t the woman been fighting her tooth and nail all this time?

Edelgard, woefully unexperienced in the ways of love, loyalty and care, had learned the hard way that people tended to care about multiple other people, that fighting for what you believed in wasn’t as straightforward as she had always thought, and that fighting for what you thought was right and protecting those you cared for weren’t necessarily the same thing.

So now- a little over two years since that faithful day- she was no longer in a stuck a war with no ending in sight but instead tuck in endless council meetings, bickering about the fate of Fodlan with the people she cared deeply about, the people she did not care for that much, the people she wished would disappear of the face of the earth entirely and _Rhea._

Byleth had made it very clear from the start that any future with Edelgard still on the throne would involve the holy woman to a great extent, and Rhea sadly turned out to really enjoy being involved in everything, so no Archbishops were to be poisoned or stabbed. Be it impulsively, planned or otherwise.

She had agreed, _reluctantly,_ telling herself she would just leech power from the Church through politics and put Rhea on the sidelines that way instead through warfare, but had quickly found out Rhea was attempting the exact same to her with a lot more passion Edelgard thought the woman had in her after all her years of living in hiding.

So the first months of Byleth dragging an unwilling Rhea to Enbarr and an equally unwilling Edelgard to Garreg Mach for endless meetings over every last detail –all of which they disagreed on- had been tense to put things mildly.

…But also a little bit fun, more entertaining than stuffy meetings where no one raised their voice or made the snidest remarks while leaving the other unable to do anything but swallow their pride lest they’d make a fool of themselves, at the very least.

Because Rhea, while still all smiles and pleasant words, wreaked havoc. And that havoc often targeted Edelgard or involved the people she worked closely with, so Edelgard could _also_ wreak havoc and go head to head with Rhea… politically… and politely. No Archbishops were not only _not_ to be stabbed or poisoned, Byleth also insisted they weren’t sworn at, so any backstabs and insults had to be done covertly with smooth words and kind smiles, in which case Byleth was mostly oblivious to the biting meaning behind their polite surface.

Byleth seemed more pleased by the day in general, with both her close friends no longer attempting to kill each other and instead being somewhat civil to each other, as far as she knew. Her former teacher’s happiness was paramount for Edelgard and while Byleth didn’t seem to need much, Edelgard still wanted to reach out to her and meet her requests as much as she could.

She had expected to struggle more with Byleth’s closeness to Rhea, especially as Rhea made it very apparent Byleth was very dear to her as well – with the mercenary often being the only person who could easily reason with Rhea if she wasn’t being very agreeable… or downright menacing, but to Edelgard’s own surprise she found Byleth’s relationship with Rhea easy, welcoming even as Byleth often helped the both of them being able to face each other without spite. Perhaps it was because when Byleth was Edelgard she could feel the devotion and care the woman held for her, and in a way that made her feel at ease, even relieved that Byleth didn’t seem to need her when Edelgard wasn’t with her –which was often, seeing as Byleth spend a lot of time at Garreg Mach.

But when Byleth wasn’t looking, or wasn’t there, Edelgard’s shadow war with Rhea, nearly entirely comprised of verbal attacks, continued relentlessly.

It wasn’t until she caught Rhea hiding an amused grin behind the palm of her hand after a particular subtle but scalding insult she’d casually thrown Edelgard’s way, one which only the both of them had understood, that the Emperor realized Rhea was entertaining herself just as much with this as she was with their silent war –her own amusement these days only being second to their combined hard work in trying change Fodlan for the better, shape it in their own image of what was right.

Edelgard couldn’t help but make her secret enjoyment less of a secret in her interactions with the Archbishop and as a result their stances on matters became more aligned after that, with both of them being more focused on nullifying the influence the Agarthans was trying to exert over both their seats of power rather than trying to make the other do their bidding and hamper each other massively in the process of breaking free from the Agarthans. They turned out to be much more efficient if there wasn’t an equal force hampering their actions with every step they took, they both came to understand very well. They still kept up the façade that they held nothing but contempt though, too many people were under the impression that the Emperor and Archbishop being unable to work together worked well in their favor.

Rhea then one day invited Edelgard over for a lunch she’d often take with Byleth when the three of them were at Garreg Mach and Edelgard, very intent on showing the Archbishop she was a better human than her and certainly not petty, then invited her for dinner along with her and Byleth the next time the three of them were all at Enbarr. Eating together became a regular occurrence after that, much to Byleth’s very apparent delight.

But her teacher’s happiness aside, Edelgard still felt a strong tension between her and Rhea, one she couldn’t put into words, it was aggravating and invigorating all at once, driving both of them absolutely up the wall while coming back for more all the same.

Byleth had been absolutely oblivious to it and both rulers had made it an effort to keep it that way while making it a sport to insult each other right under her very nose.

But then one day during one of their shared dinners Rhea randomly decided to tell Edelgard very explicitly just what kind of tension it was, when she had plainly declared that if Edelgard wanted her teacher so much she should really get on with it, adding that if she wouldn’t _Rhea_ would.

Byleth had gone as red as a tomato and Edelgard had nearly spit out her wine, damned sure Rhea had purposely timed her nonchalant revelation with her putting her glass to her lips.

She had stuttered out all sorts of denials and accused the green haired woman with very weak but passionately spoken insults that had all fallen flat when Rhea had only laughed, Goddess even Byleth had seemed amused by her floundering. Had she really been that obvious?

If not obvious she had apparently been very accidental in showing who she felt attracted to because Rhea had _winked_ and stated that Edelgard’s little crush on the Archbishop was both endearing and very much welcome as well.

After another round of loud denial Edelgard had stormed out of the room, her face having gone redder than Byleth’s.

As it turned out, Rhea proved to be an excellent matchmaker because only a week later Edelgard awkwardly confessed to Byleth she was indeed in love with her, no longer able to bear the pressure, and what do you know, Byleth reciprocated.

…But also admitted she held similar feelings for Rhea as well and had been unsure of what she was supposed to do with this, having opted thus far to just not act on either one and simply enjoy her time with them.

Well fuck.

They ended up in a very odd and extremely delicate conversation. Where Byleth insisted she did not need to act on either of her feelings, that she was just happy to be with them, but also that if Edelgard or Rhea wanted her to act on them, she wanted to be free to be with the other as well. Byleth was a woman who wanted many things but did not necessarily need them, and her morals towered over her desires.

Edelgard on the other hand, found herself ranting about how she would love to have Byleth in her life, and to love her, but that she could never be a proper partner, and certainly not a wife, not right now at least. Marriage frightened her, the crown on her head already shackled her and she was afraid she could not bear a ring as well, that she wouldn’t never be the suitable wife Byleth deserved. She couldn’t imagine spending all her days with someone, not even those she loved. After all that happened in her life she simply needed the peace and quiet that came with her free evenings and while she’d love to have Byleth around she couldn’t give Byleth the all-encompassing love the other woman deserved. After spending so many years sacrificing all she had while trying to free herself of the control of others moment of solitude where no one needed her or expected to see her where the kind of peace that helped her heal from her past and pains, but made her less than consistent in her social life.

Quite some time into this awkward conversation both of them realized there was a perfect middle ground there to be found. Byleth too didn’t feel keen on spending all her life at Enbarr as a consort, she still taught at Garreg Mach after all and didn’t fit at all in with the nobility. And while she could never get enough of Edelgard, she also enjoyed bouts of solitude, or bouts of Rhea.

Edelgard had thought she’d feel jealousy or inadequacy but mostly she felt relief that she could make Byleth happy without having to sacrifice so much or force skills upon herself she simply lacked for the time being, and also that Byleth’s happiness didn’t revolve entirely around Edelgard either. The fear of not being enough, of being too distracted by her work or not emotionally available had been pressuring her a lot.

It was strange of her to feel like that probably, or perhaps just not commonly accepted, but Byleth accepted, accepted her with all her imperfections without hesitation.

When later her former teacher had delicately inquired if Rhea’s statement was true, if Edelgard indeed held some sort of attraction to the Archbishop as well, she had been disgusted by the idea of being involved with two people at once for a whole thirty seconds before she sheepishly recalled her father had had, in fact, _four_ consorts, and also that while the nobility often had squeaky clean public marriages, it wasn’t all that uncommon for them to have lovers as well.

Not as if she’d ever let her private affairs become publicly known, like nearly every noble tended to do, Edelgard had grown to learn in her years as ruler. No, they slept around, for better or for worse. And while Edelgard was adamant in keeping politics out of her bedroom –they were already in nearly every other aspect of her life- she couldn’t deny she was curious just what Rhea wanted from her.

And thus realized she was already halfway coming up with explaining her motivations to Byleth before realizing she hadn’t actually admitted to any attractions to any infuriating Archbishops yet, much to Byleth’s thorough amusement.

Rhea had somehow sensed it, Edelgard knew this for sure. Mere days later the woman was constantly in her hair with her relentless teasing and suggestive comments, leaving the Emperor a flustered mess who needed to use anger as a mask to hide her embarrassment from the numerous politicians Rhea would just casually say things in front of.

Edelgard had lasted a little over two months, taking Rhea’s comments with grace as she came up with her own ways to match the Saint’s _shameless flirting,_ before the tension between them just became too much for her. One day she caved in and with the conviction she’d _show the damn Archbishop Edelgard was brave,_ promptly pushed her against the wall and kissed her.

She’d been so certain that she could do it, high on a rush of adrenaline and with a whole two months of experience with Byleth under her belt she’d make the other woman fluster and show her just what she could do.

…But proceeded to get absolutely floored herself instead and had subsequently realized that the woman with a thousand years of practice had stealthily baited Edelgard into taking the first step for her own amusement.

Rhea had looked surprised for only a moment before she had turned the tables, pushing Edelgard against the wall before kissing her and guiding her hands with gentle words and gestures until Edelgard had been lost in a flurry of feelings with nothing more on her mind than the hazy but strong need to please the Archbishop.

A dynamic which they had kept up for over half a year now, per Rhea’s strict demand.

Not that Edelgard _minded,_ serving the Archbishop, pleasing her, was simply exhilarating. Seeing the reactions Edelgard could evoke from the other woman made her feel good and powerful to say the least. It was perhaps the first time in her life Edelgard could feel that way without it involving war or politics as Rhea had made it very clear their secret endeavors were related to neither, which Edelgard had wholeheartedly agreed with.

So she didn’t mind at all.

But it was certainly unfair of Rhea.

Because some time ago Byleth had casually revealed Rhea wasn’t as demanding and in charge with her as she always was with Edelgard, and that was simply not something the Emperor could handle. As if she was in any way inferior to Rhea despite competing with her head to head in every other aspect. She couldn’t understand what made Rhea sweet and gentle with Byleth but so _aggravatingly_ in charge with her. To make matters worse, while Rhea always either made Edelgard go or left on her own devices not long after they were done, with Byleth she _stayed the night._ As if sleeping with Edelgard was some sort of game Rhea thought she was winning at.

Well, she wasn’t that easily toyed with and could just as well make Rhea beg for mercy. No, from that moment on Edelgard had been determined to turn the tables back on the Saint and her condescending little comments.

That meant from that moment on Edelgard had been devising plans to see the sides of the Archbishop Byleth got to see and the first step in her plan was getting the woman to actually spend the night with her for once. Edelgard wanted her to stay too, damn it.

So here she was once more, in her own rooms at the earliest moments of dusk, naked and on her knees with her head in between the Archbishop’s thighs again, but this time under false pretenses. Not at all feeling as obedient as she was making herself out to be and with her mind stuck in-between losing herself to lust and determined to turn the tables somehow, although her thoughts were a hazy blur at best.

“Edelgard,” Rhea moans as she presses Edelgard’s head a little harder against her with her hand on the back of the Emperor’s head, yet another blow to Edelgard’s rational mind as desire flares up in her. _Focus,_ she tells herself as she struggles to keep up any resemblance of rhythm, trying to take Rhea completely apart with her tongue before the woman can come. On occasion the woman would get a little out of it, losing her composure whenever she got too into it and Edelgard was giving it her all to make that happen.

But then Rhea does that thing she often does where she plays with Edelgard’s hair and the Emperor sees white as she moans herself when a jolt of pleasure builds in her gut.

“Good girl,” Rhea murmurs playfully and it’s only because Edelgard hears the quiver in the other woman’s voice that she regains some resemblance of thought.

Rhea is just as affected by this as she is, Edelgard forcibly reminds herself. Rhea isn’t as in control of everything as she pretends to be.

With more vigor than before Edelgard picks up her pace, by now knowing the way the body of the Archbishop well enough to have her whimper in seconds. Rhea’s body works surprisingly human, in the sense that not everything feels and goes as perfect for her as it does in novels. The closer Rhea gets to her peak the harder she has to focus on her own pleasure and at times the woman struggles to let herself come, seeming almost hesitant and overwhelmed just before sometimes.

Edelgard had addressed the oddity of it some time ago, suggesting that Rhea, with her immortal and stronger body should have more control over… those parts as well. Rhea had glared at her and had reminded Edelgard that her original form wasn’t human to begin with, revealing that her dragon form didn’t even have any _reproductive means_ at all so her mind and body did not always agree upon what they wanted. It had been the first time Edelgard had apologized to Rhea, if only because the woman had seemed so embarrassed, almost hurt even.

This time too Edelgard catches the hint of nerves in the Saint’s eyes when she looks up and meets Rhea’s gaze. Normally Edelgard would be the one to look away first, wanting to give Rhea the small privacy to let go without being watched, that and the intensity of the emotions behind her eyes was always too much to handle before, but now Edelgard keeps it.

Rhea’s eyes widen and she for a moment she looks insecure before averting her eyes. Edelgard counts it as a victory and moves her tongue up to focus on her clit, being able to tell how close Rhea is and wanting to push her over the edge.

A small part of her brain tries to remind her she had plans but her desire to see Rhea in pleasure has overtaken her senses. “Keep going,” Rhea demands in a rough voice, arching her back and pressing Edelgard’s face flush against herself as she grinds her hips into her, leaving Edelgard restricted to the same small and fast ministrations with no space left to do things more sensually.

She doesn’t mind though and places her hands on each side of Rhea’s waist, only pushing the other woman harder into herself. As she looks up again she sees Rhea looking down in surprise at the sensation, moaning helplessly at the sight of Edelgard beneath her.

The Archbishop balances on the edge of orgasm for a long few moments longer, looking frustrated with herself as she keeps their gaze and Edelgard finds herself wishing she could speak. Hell, even smiling might have helped at this point. Instead she gently caresses the side of Rhea’s hip with her fingers and hopes her eyes convey what she’s feeling.

It seemingly does as Rhea inhales sharply before hunching over. Keeping one hand on Edelgard and steadying herself with the other she comes with a loud cry. “ _Edelgard_ ,” she moans and repeats the name over and over again like a mantra as Edelgard keeps licking. The Emperor counts this as yet another victory because by now she has learned her name is not the easiest to pronounce when in the throes of pleasure and can’t help but grin, licking up into Rhea’s wetness as she helps her ride out her orgasm.

She keeps going a little too long on accident, lost in her own pleasure of hearing Rhea’s soft moans and gasps. “S-stop,” the other woman whimpers as she pushes Edelgard’s head away gently.

“Sorry,” Edelgard mumbles as she pulls away with an apologetic smile. “Did you feel nice?” she asks as she kisses down Rhea’s thigh, enjoying the way she leaves a trail of wetness in her wake.

Rhea gasps before answering. “I did,” she responds softly. “It was…” she starts and then promptly shuts her mouth, giving Edelgard a look that makes her seem terribly unwilling to open it again. Some of that usual aura of annoyance immediately clings to her again.

“It was great,” Edelgard finishes for her with a grin, enjoying the fact even Rhea seems a little affected by the subtle change between them.

“Don’t get cocky now,” Rhea warns her curtly and shoots her an annoyed look.

“Well I thought it was great,” Edelgard says, feeling just a tad too smug for her own good and knowing Rhea will be out of here as soon as the woman gets a chance to put on her clothes if she keeps this behavior up.

True to Edelgard’s expectations Rhea sighs and rolls her eyes before placing both hands on the bed to get up from her position. In a flash Edelgard is up from the floor, putting both her hands on Rhea’s knees and leaning over her. “Stay,” she tells the woman as she places a quick kiss on her lips.

Rhea raises her eyebrows. “Look at you being all eager,” she comments on Edelgard’s uncharacteristically erratic reaction.

“I want you to stay the night,” Edelgard clarifies.

She gets a frown in return. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Rhea mutters. “We both have things to do in the morning, we can’t do this all night.”

“To sleep,” Edelgard clarifies once more. “I want you to sleep next to me tonight.”

“…No,” is the answer she gets along with a sour look.

“Why not,” Edelgard responds as she shakes Rhea’s knees gently. _You stay with Byleth,_ nearly escapes her lips as well.

“Because I don’t trust you.” Rhea doesn’t hesitate to say. Didn’t even blink, much to Edelgard’s annoyance.

“What?” she says. “Now you’re being ridiculous. I just had my head between your thighs, I’ve had my fingers inside you. I could do a lot more damage that way than I could do in the brief moment you’d need to recover from sleep if I’d attack you.”

Rhea had gone red in the roughly three seconds Edelgard needed to get those words out and loses her composure the moment she shuts her mouth. “Stop it!” she hisses before glancing away. The Archbishop’s prude side always showed up in the oddest of ways in Edelgard’s humble opinion. “And it’s not about that,” she adds in a softer tone.

“Then what?” The Emperor prompts stubbornly, determined to not let this go.

“I don’t want you to see me asleep,” Rhea mutters. “I don’t want you to see me weak like that.”

“ _But,”_ Edelgard immediately argues before stopping herself. A part of her manages to remind herself that she was doing this mostly because she wanted to see the more vulnerable side of Rhea and in a way the woman does feel oddly vulnerable right now. “Why is that?” she asks much more gentle.

In a moment most uncharacteristic to her Rhea bites her lip and seems to struggle with being completely naked for a short moment before relaxing her body once again. “You could have killed me in the war,” she starts quietly. “I’m only alive because you decided not to and I cannot stand that. Now there’s all these… these reforms. In a way they are a relief, I was getting so tired of hiding, of doing everything alone, but still it’s all out of my control and that’s a first for me in a long time.”

Briefly she meets Edelgard’s eyes before it’s too much and she averts her gaze downwards. “I don’t want this,” she says as she gestures to the space between them, “to feel as if I’m losing something as well.”

Edelgard immediately feels guilty for her earlier ‘victories’ and realizes she might have missed the point of a few things, along with something else entirely. “I thought you said this wasn’t about war or politics,” she says as she sits down next to Rhea.

The idea is unexpectedly painful, to think Rhea might have had such reasons all along.

Rhea just smiles at her but it looks too sad to ease Edelgard’s guilt. “I said I didn’t _want_ it to be about those things, I never said I was strong enough that it doesn’t remind me of it a times.”

“Oh,” Edelgard says uselessly, stuck with a body that’s still unbelievably turned on and a mind that’s currently concerned at best and hazy at worst and the mix makes her feel oddly affectionate.

“It’s not about war or politics for me,” she murmurs as she kisses Rhea’s shoulder. She doesn’t at all want to think about what it might be about for her then right now and so instead she just keeps kissing along the other woman’s skin, hoping to convey the truth of her words.

The Archbishop chuckles and when Edelgard glances upward she looks less sad. “Thank you,” she says with a small, more genuine smile, but still seems to have something weigh on her mind. “But I can’t help think you’re being terribly naïve.”

“Naïve?” Edelgard sputters at Rhea’s accusation. “I think I would know if I’d have ulterior motives,” she scoffs.

“Really?” Rhea says with a smile lingering on her lips. “Then why ask Byleth all those questions about me the other week, hmm?” she muses.

“She _told_ you that?” Edelgard says and flusters. Oh heaven’s, she really asked some embarrassing things.

“We agreed to keep no secrets between the three of us didn’t we?” Rhea reminds her helpfully, seeming more at ease now that Edelgard is floundering terribly.

“I…yes,” she huffs, “I assumed we meant important things,” she explains, struggling to make eye-contact at this point. “Not things like my feelings.”

“They seem awfully important to you, though,” Rhea chuckles, covering her mouth with her hand in a way only she can make look condescending.

“Well they are!” Edelgard exclaims as something cracks in her. “It’s not fair, you stay the night with her, you act all different with her too.”

“I do this with the both of you for different reasons,” Rhea says softly, hiding something deeper in her words. “And with different emotions as well. So do you,” she points out.

It’s true, Byleth is the woman she loves. A friend as well an ally, someone she trusts with herself and all her imperfections. With Rhea… well she doesn’t know where she stands with her, it hadn’t mattered much until recently. Being with the Archbishop felt like a somewhat competitive performance, a safe role she could play where she could be free from the pressure of her life for a while. It was liberating to know exactly what to do, to make Rhea cry out while offering the woman all her devotion for the brief time it lasted, or be at her mercy and let herself go wild until Rhea was finished with her. But these feelings stayed confined to the bedroom and not otherwise affected Edelgard or her life.

Still, something kept bugging her.

“It feels as if you do not see me as your equal,” she murmurs dejectedly and immediately regrets her words because that sounded too vulnerable

Rhea’s eyes widen slightly as she realizes something. “Edelgard… are you jealous?”

The Emperor goes rigid. “What? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous,” she defends herself, but suddenly the cold feeling in her stomach, her frustrations she couldn’t put into words, start to make sense. “We talked about this, it’s not needed. We want each other for differing reasons…”

“Exactly,” Rhea says with a small smile. “But I’m glad you admitted you want me, however. You hadn’t said that before.”

The Archbishop looks far too pleased with herself for Edelgard’s liking. That patronizing, _smug…_

“Of course I want you,” she admits, pointedly ignoring her wounded pride. “Why else do you think I do this?”

“I am not sure,” Rhea says, her voice gentle but a little distant. “You haven’t shared anything about your reasons, until now I couldn’t shake the thought you were doing this at least partly out of spite. It’s as we agreed on, we each have different reasons, I simply respected you didn’t divulge yours.”

Edelgard feels very caught. It’s true, she _has_ been keeping most of her feelings regarding this from both Rhea and Byleth, the only thing the Saint could hope for was at most a smile from Edelgard if she’d say anything kind to her during these private meetings between them.

“I’m… I’m not exactly sure,” Edelgard mumbles. She doesn’t want to let the other woman know her feelings run deeper than she wants to acknowledge, it just too much. “It’s complicated,” she settles on and wonders if it really is.

Awkwardly she looks down and finds that staring at her own nether regions is not helping in the slightest but manages to stops herself from jerking her head back up to make herself seem more in control.

A hand brushing through her hair makes her look up into green eyes anyway and there she finds that Rhea’s amusement, while not gone, has taken on a more gentle nature, as if she’s happy Edelgard told her this. “But you _do_ want me right?” she asks with so much warmth in her melodious tone it sends a shiver down the Emperor’s spine. But Edelgard also senses the vulnerability in Rhea’s voice, the fear that Edelgard holds no warmth for Rhea at all, no matter what way.

“I do,” she whispers in return. “A lot.”

“Hmm tell me then, how?” the Saint says and leans her head slightly to the left, making her look inquisitive.

“Huh?”

“You seem to want something different today,” Rhea tells her as her eyes take on a more intense look. “Tell me what it is you want.”

Edelgard swallows hard and finds herself at a loss of words. “I uhm…” she attempts. How does she convey what she wants? What _does_ she want exactly? hat are the terms, _words_ for these overly complex things, if there even are any?

“I want to treat you the same way you treat me,” she says, suddenly feeling overly prude. They’ve been doing this for months, why is it so hard to speak about it?

“Aah,” Rhea hums knowingly, apparently understanding exactly what Edelgard means while she herself… doesn’t exactly.

She doesn’t miss the mischievous grin tugging on Rhea’s lips. It makes her look oddly endearing and melts away some of the tension in Edelgard’s stomach she didn’t realize was there.

It occurs to her that Rhea isn’t at all affected by what Edelgard is asking her. Surprised? Maybe. Enjoying it? Certainly. But not taken aback or out of her depth.

What being over a thousand years does to you, she muses to herself. Rhea has probably seen and done everything with all sorts of people and Edelgard wonders what she did that Rhea thought she was worth the effort.

Rhea moves backwards unto the four poster bed belonging to Edelgard and as she turns her head over her shoulder to see what the green haired woman is up to a hand encloses over her wrist and gently tugs her along. “Come,” says as she pulls Edelgard atop of her until she’s straddling the woman beneath her.

Edelgard stares at her hard and the flames inside her are quickly fanned once more.

Rhea smiles back up at her. “Take me however you want,” she says quietly, brushing a stray lock of hair behind Edelgard’s ear with her fingers, stroking along the line of her ear and downwards over her cheek afterwards.

Well that’s certainly… a very big offer Edelgard doesn’t want to pass on but also isn’t entirely sure what to do with now that what she wanted is within her reach. She tries to swallow but realizes she has to close her mouth for that first. Chiding herself for her lack of grace she wonders how to proceed next. Perhaps it’s best to simply _ask_ what she’s missing in knowledge. She’s still unsure of what Rhea is expecting, or feeling, as well.

“Are you certain?” Edelgard can’t help but whisper, the gnawing fear that Rhea might be doing something against her will on her mind.

Rhea nods, her earlier amusement making way for something more intense and stronger. “Very much so, please.”

The uncertainty in Edelgard is abruptly snuffed out when she sees the want in the Saints eyes and is replaced by her own desires flaring up. _She really wants this too._ Her last few shreds of doubt die out as she leans down and captures the other’s lips.

Their kiss is fiery, intense as Edelgard takes the lead for a change. Rhea doesn’t simply let herself be guided however and kisses back with equal passion. It’s so different than before, Edelgard has half a mind to think to herself, yet nothing _actually is_ , all that is different were a few words exchanged between them. Still, where previously she’d let her mind grow hazy as Rhea took her apart with nothing but her tongue and lips now her mind is spurring her on to keep moving, keep atop some sort of unspoken race.

Rhea moans into the kiss when Edelgard first swirls her tongue around the Saint’s. One of her hands she keeps placed on the bed for balance, next to Rhea’s head, as the other begins to travel downwards.

Her fingers ghost over a soft breast until they pinch Rhea’s nipple.

“Ah,” she gasps into Edelgard’s mouth, looking up at Edelgard with flustered cheeks and eyes that are glazed over.

“I get a little emotional like this,” Rhea warns her, a slightly nervous look in her eyes.

Edelgard nearly laughs. Is Rhea ever not a little emotional? This woman has stomped out during meetings, during their _informal dinners,_ if she’d get particularly riled up over something and Edelgard somehow wouldn’t have known Rhea has an emotional side? Preposterous.

Still, the vulnerability Rhea seems to be feeling only makes Edelgard feel hotter on the inside. “Good,” she murmurs against her lips. “I want you emotional.”

Her body seems to be telling her what to do and her mind only barely manages to follow. She wants more than a little emotional from Rhea. She wants to see a lot of emotions.

After Edelgard’s words Rhea seemed to let go of any apprehensiveness regarding her feelings as her sounds grow tenfold.

Now for the first time Edelgard explores just how she can take the lead and let Rhea enjoy herself. Normally between her and Rhea she could give her struggles with control free reign, and Rhea took them with practiced ease so that at no point Edelgard felt uncomfortable. She liked that, to feel safe and lessen her need for control for just a while. It was freeing and left her with a clear head afterwards.

But leading? She might be unexperienced and lacking in knowledge but Edelgard is _adventurous,_ not to mention headstrong and curious _._ Rhea is making her feel at ease today all the same, letting her know what she likes and being so emotional and eager that Edelgard feels reassured to explore these new possibilities with Rhea.

Fighting her own impatience to draw the strongest of reactions out of Rhea, Edelgard makes herself focus on only the woman’s breasts first, leaning on one side so that she can capture a nipple in her mouth as her hand kneads the other breast.

Rhea is all gasps and whimpers, only growing louder as Edelgard’s fingers become more rough, pressing into the soft skin and trailing over it with her nails.

“Feels good,” she murmurs, her breath hitching when Edelgard touches a particularly sensitive. “Do it harder please,” the Saint tells her quietly.

Edelgard doesn’t need to be told twice, needing Rhea to guide her touches between the lines of rough and too painful. She sucks down on Rhea’s breast just underneath her nipple, flicking her tongue over the skin and grazing it with her teeth.

Rhea makes a strained noise, arching her back as both her hands tangle in Edelgard’s hair. “More,” she pleads.

“Patience, Lady Rhea,” Edelgard admonishes her. “You’ll get your dues so be patient and bear with me,” Edelgard chides the other woman. Rhea makes a low guttural growl, coming from deep within the woman, making Edelgard wonder just how human Rhea looks like on the inside.

The Archbishop had always been a demanding woman, even in the stiffest of council meetings she somehow managed to draw attention to herself, causing everyone to scamper around in an attempt to appease her. In these private encounters of them Rhea too had always demanded her desires were met and her mood was taken care of well.

But now she was being downright _needy._

Oh this was fun, exhilarating even. Edelgard feels her confidence and excitement grow with each sound the other woman makes. Once the first spot has bruised over she finds another to mark Rhea again, kneading and pinching the other breast all the while.

Rhea’s sounds become more frustrated and pleading, yet doesn’t tell Edelgard what to do. Perhaps she enjoys the frustration, Goddess knows the Saint is perpetually hiding all sorts of pent up feelings, maybe actually letting herself experience frustration was freeing to her.

Now creating a third bruise, the spot created in between the valley of Rhea’s breasts, Edelgard sucks deliberately hard, wanting to make this the darkest of them all.

The hands in her hair twist into her locks. “ _Ah!”_ Rhea hisses, the sensation pleasurable but too painful for her to keep quiet.

Edelgard stops and looks up. Oh Heavens Rhea looks absolutely disheveled, her hair stuck to her face, panting silently and with wide eyes full of desire. She lacks her usual aggression however, to the Emperor it feels more as if she’s willingly surrendering herself to Edelgard’s touches, giving herself over to Edelgard’s whims. She looks so pliant, it’s oddly adorable.

“Did it hurt?” she asks, still searching for Rhea’s boundaries and not wanting to accidentally cross them.

“Yes,” Rhea murmurs hazily, one of her hands coming to rest the back of Edelgard’s head, playing with her so affectionally that Edelgard can’t help but feel that she’s doing a good job.

“Not too much?”

“No my dear, I can take a lot.” Rhea makes some effort to focus and smiles at Edelgard. “This makes me feel good, sometimes. In a way it makes me feel as if I’m being attacked,” she says airily, sighing happily as she does “It’s a much more safe and pleasant experience than all the battles I’ve fought. This reminds me of war but that only makes me feel so very alive.” The glint in her eyes, how she seems almost giddy or drunk, make Edelgard see that Rhea is definitely more grounded in the moment and free of an overloaded mind than she normally is.

Alive… Yes Edelgard feels that too. She feels excited with bursts of adrenaline coursing through her and this is somewhat similar to battle, except with pleasure instead of danger. It’s nice to… to simulate that. She likes the feeling of winning.

“I want to take you,” she says without a thought, the words coming straight from her core along with a jolt of pleasure.

Rhea’s eyes widen slightly at her words, flustering as her eyes cloud over. “Do you really want me that much?” she asks quietly, almost as if she doesn’t dare believe Edelgard is doing it out of her own volition.

It seems Rhea had been under the delusion for quite some time now that Edelgard wasn’t all that into her, be it her body, who she was, what she could do, even Edelgard saying she wanted her, Rhea still struggled to believe it.

Was she really that afraid?

“Of course I do,” Edelgard said, now more concerned with Rhea’s feelings than her own. “How can I convince you?” she asks, leaning in to press a soft kiss on the other’s lips.

After getting flustered and bothered from the kiss, she breathes, “show me that you want me.”

Edelgard feels a pleasurable jolt shoot through her spine and into her core at those words and at once Edelgard feels she has been dragging it out enough, far too much.

She captures the other’s lips in a domineering kiss, wanting her panting and breathless before she’ll goes down, her hand roams over Rhea’s torso, her breasts, hips and waist, where she alternates her caressing with scratches of her nails, not too deep it’ll draw blood but had enough Rhea will be left with angry red marks until daybreak.

Rhea delights in it, with reddend cheeks and black in her pupils, she pants and gasps against Edelgard’s mouth, her desires flaring up alongside those of Edelgard.

Finally Edelgard’s desire wins from her crumbling apprehension, and so she raises her leg and places it in-between Rhea’s, forcing them open as she does. There she presses her leg against Rhea’s core with a slow grind.

The reaction is immediate, Rhea gasps against Edelgard’s mouth, with the sound ending in a keening moan. While still kissing Rhea, now with their tongues involved, Edelgard repeats the motion, grinding her knee into Rhea’s heat. She can feel how wet the other woman is with neither of them wearing any clothes, because after only a few more rhythmic thrusts –all met with eager and desperate moans- Edelgard feels dampness on her knee. She draws her leg back slightly further and presses into Rhea’s wetness with more vigor, leaving her knee there, and reveling in feeling Rhea’s rapid heartbeat against her leg.

“You’re being such a good girl,” Edelgard coos impulsively, though she’s so full of desire that her voice sounds low and hoarse.

...And she immediately regrets having said that. What had gotten into her to such a thing? Between the three of them she was both the shortest and the youngest, her words will fall flat and Rhea will surely be laughing.

Rhea has gone still underneath her and when Edelgard meets her gaze all she can think is _oh._

With her mouth slightly open and looking both slightly startled and very red it’s quite clear to her now that the Saint is not at all laughing and _very_ much affected by her words. Into it as well.

Perhaps Edelgard would be well of leaving reality out of this kind of play.

With more confidence than before and reassured that Rhea won’t suddenly laugh at her as she explores new side of things she picks up where she left of with more intensity than before. Her mouth ghosts across Rhea’s neck and shoulder “I’m going to leave marks here,” she breathes out, giving Rhea a brief window of time to stop her should she have objections.

“Please,” Rhea rasps as she squirms underneath the Emperor, sounding both as if she’s pleading Edelgard to do it and have mercy on her. She has to be representable tomorrow morning after all.

Edelgard decides the Archbishop had to put in some more effort if she really didn’t want it. Besides, the woman’s neck is always covered by her long hair. Without further hesitation she sucks down hard on the sensitive skin as she presses her knee into the woman again, this time keeping it tightly against her heat for a moment.

Rhea’s breathe hitches as she makes a frantic sound. When Edelgard begins to repeat the motion again she feels two hands wrap around her, one tangling itself into her hair at the base of her neck while the other scratches along her back, uneven in speed and pressure.

Keeping grinding her knee into Rhea, Edelgard gradually increasing the pressure while she continues covering her neck in marks, slowly making her way to the Saint’s shoulder.

It’s nice, to be able to let loose like this. She lets her mind cloud over with lust and her thoughts slip until a peasant throbbing hums throughout her body. It almost feels calming to feel in control, to dictate what happens and maybe even let herself feel a tad of harmless aggression –she bites down on Rhea’s skin and the woman only moans breathlessly as her fingers curl into Edelgard's skin, digging into it with force just short drawing blood. The dull sting of pain makes Edelgard's body sing with feverish want.

Leaning her weight on her leg on the side of Rhea’s body Edelgard lets her hand trail down her chest and stomach, finally ghosting over damp hair as she pulls back her knee to make space. Her fingers brush over the Saint’s clit, teasing the other woman for a few short moments before pressing down.

“ _Aah_ ,” comes the melodious sound –high and riddled with desire- from Rhea, who arches her back and sighs, the noise sounding like utter relief.

Edelgard knows what Rhea wants and with these touches, where she’s drawing deliberately slow but intense circles around that nub, she’s _close_ to what Rhea want but instead Edelgard is only ghosting over the hot skin, where she circler around Rhea’s clit with very little mercy.

“Do you think I’ve teased you enough?” Edelgard’s low, cutting voice implores the Saint, who’s a mess of shaky breaths and uneven sounds.

“Yes,” she rasps. “Please, Edelgard,” she breathes out in an admittance of defeat.

To have your former nemesis beg you, for pleasure of all things. It makes Edelgard’s body feel hot and she feels oh so powerful right now. …But also caring. Is this what Rhea feels normally? So much care and affection like these sensations coursing through Edelgard, does Rhea care for her this deeply? It’s hard to believe, and suddenly a little scary.

She shakes her insecurities when another growl of an almost enjoyable impatience comes from Rhea, and Edelgard promptly finds her words again.

“You are doing such a good job though….” She teases the other, whose eyes go wide, making her look out of it with her disheveled hair and reddened cheeks. “Would be a shame to cut it short,” she says, her finger brushing over Rhea’s clit for emphasis.

Rhea’s body jerks at the sensation and she gasps deeply. “Please,” she rasps.

Edelgard flashes Rhea a sweet smile. It makes the green haired women seem even more out of her depth. She looks almost confused at this point. Well, Edelgard asked to see her emotional and that’s exactly what she’s getting.

“Well, it is true, you have been doing a good job,” Edelgard goes on, mirth in her eyes and a fire in her groin. “So perhaps it’s time for a reward, hmn?” she offers Rhea airily.

The Saint squirms and looks helpless. “A reward?” she mumbles perplexed, her mind in too much disarray for her to understand Edelgard’s intention.

Edelgard nods. “Yes, you are very deserving my Saint,” she smiles and leans down to press her lips against Rhea’s own, silencing both her voice and mind with a kiss.

Simultaneously her fingers brush over Rhea’s clit, causing Rhea to gasp and break the kiss momentarily. “Too direct?” Edelgard hums with a smile.

“Yes,” Rhea sulks in ragged breaths. “My body doesn-”

“I know Rhea, I know how to touch you to make you feel good, I just wanted your attention before I do so.”

Rhea somehow looks even redder, looking torn between anger and acceptance of her fate.

Well she won’t have to bad for any longer because Edelgard swiftly captures her lips again, calming her and preparing her for being touched properly now. Her fingers easily find that familiar pattern, beginning to brush around her clit until all of Rhea’s body wants this because only then can she handle more direct stimulation. So that’s what Edelgard does, soft circles that press down or brush against the side of Rhea’s clit, they evoke shaky moans from Rhea but Edelgard won’t let the kiss break.

As she keeps pleasuring Rhea with her fingers she deepens their kiss, her tongue swipes across Rhea’s lips which open immediately, as if Rhea feels it’s useless to resist. Instantly Rhea’s tongue finds hers and feverishly the Saint swirls her tongue around Edelgard, who even struggles to remain the leading one. It doesn’t matter, nothing is set in stone. It’s a fight both of them don’t mind winning nor losing, it’s about the sensations, the feelings and the jolts of pleasure shooting down their spines.

Rhea growls when Edelgard suddenly increases the pace of her fingers, pressing them ever so slightly closer to Rhea’s sensitive nub. Aside from the growl, the initial surprise that caught her unaware, no other negative sounds come from the Archbishop so Edelgard keeps gradually increasing the pace and makes her touches more intense.

Listening to the myriad of sounds Rhea makes, Edelgard keeps pleasing the Saint, increasing the pace and intensity until Rhea is reduced to a moaning mess. Her head lies back in the pillows and she lets Edelgard kiss her to her hearts content.

When Edelgard hears the soft sighs and satisfied noises she knows she can take things, now with Rhea all wanting –both her body and mind- Edelgard’s fingers trail down into the folds. The older woman makes a noise of protest but promptly holds her tongue when she feels two fingers pressing lightly at her entrance.

“Do you want this?” Edelgard asks as she breaks the kiss. Sometimes Rhea cannot come from fingers inside her so Edelgard decided it’s just best to ask if Rhea didn’t make it clear on her own first. Wide green eyes, pools full of infinite wisdom stare back up at her. _Goddess this woman is breathtaking,_ Edelgard finds herself concluding not for the first time.

There is determination in Rhea’s eyes, a strong want, almost demandingly so. “I do,” comes her soft and gentle sounding response.

The woman is an enigma, Edelgard concludes, and that just makes her all the more tantalizing.

Less gentle than before but still making sure she doesn’t accidently hurt Rhea, Edelgard slides two fingers in. She hardly had to be gentle because the Archbishop is terribly wet, her patch of hair and thighs covered in wetness too. Rhea inhales sharply at the feeling of being filled and for a moment she seems relaxed, with her mind very empty of thoughts.

After letting Rhea enjoy herself for a few seconds Edelgard wastes no time and pulls out before sliding her fingers with slightly more vigor, curling them when they’re in at their deepest. Rhea is left with no time to protest when Edelgard picks up the pace and soon enough Rhea has to withstand the rhythmic thrusting of Edelgard’s fingers inside her.

Even with the first few thrusts Rhea couldn’t keep silent but now that they’ve got that pace going Rhea is all cries, gasps, moans and various words, from begging to praise.

Rhea can last, and Edelgard knows this. But neither are very concerned with time right so for now both of them simply enjoy _this._

“Feels so good, Edelgard,” Rhea mewls as she shifts in the blankets. “So _good,”_

The Emperor feels pride in her swell, that she can make Rhea feel so good, make her feel so happy.

“More,” Rhea pleads, her eyes trained on lilac ones above her.

If more is what Rhea wants, Edelgard thinks, then she’ll get it. She increases her pace, one that’s taxing to do for a long time, but if that’s what Rhea needs then Edelgard will keep going.

The effect is immediate. Moans and cries of pleasure increase in volume and frequency while speaking becomes a lot harder. Still, Edelgard keeps going, thrust after thrust, and moan after moan.

“ _Edelgard,”_ Rhea manages to get out, the name beginning as a rasp and ending in a mewl.

The Emperor leans on her side a bit more so she has enough stability and leeway to keep thrusting into Rhea.

“E-edelgard,” Rhea chokes out in stutters as the white haired women is merciless in her assault. “Edel… gard,” she gasps, her breathing labored.

Edelgard likes this, her name being called so weakly but with so much reverence. “You’re doing so well,” she coos.

Her praise makes Rhea even more of a mess, yet still she is seemingly determined to keep saying the Emperor’s name as more and more half attempts and stutters keep coming from her mouth.

Edelgard takes out her two fingers and adds a third when she thrusts in again, being able to tell from experience that Rhea can take it at this point and it will only add to her pleasure.

She slides them in with ease and only curls them sharply when they’re fully inside Rhea.

“ _Ah_. Feels good, Edel…Oh _El_ it feels so good,” Rhea breathes out shakily, squirming in the sheets underneath her.

As if struck by lightning, Edelgard stops, not a single muscle moves.

“You… you called me El” she says, her voice in between a low hoarse and unexpectedly vulnerable.

Only when Edelgard’s words register in Rheas mind does she go still as well.

“I did… oh I _did_ , I’m so sorry, It’s just that I heard Byleth call you that but I know you gave her special permission so I’m sor-”

“Rhea,” Edelgard says sharply, drawing the other’s attention to her. “How did it feel when you said my name like that?”

Rhea mulls it over in her head. “Good, natural even… perhaps I had been wanting to… my apologies that was selfi-”

“Then call me El,” Edelgard, with a blush and a smile on her face, tells Rhea who looks very shocked when hearing those words.

Neither of them know what to say… or what to do for that matter, but they _were_ in the middle of something, and Edelgard decides to continue in order to vent these feelings in a more primal way.

With ease she picks up where they left off and moments later Rhea is a moaning, gasping mess attempting to pronounce various syllables that make up Edelgard’s name, but _El_ is there chief among them and that makes the Emperor feel new highs of pleasure.

Rhea is beautiful to watch and here, Edelgard concludes. She can tell the Saint is slowly getting close by ear alone, with her sounds becoming more free and desperate.

Wanting to kiss her, Edelgard shifts her balance and leans over to Rhea, who puts her arm around Edelgard’s back and pulls her close, but instead of going for a kiss she promptly buries her head in the crook of Edelgard’s shoulder, where her soft gasps and sounds of pleasure become muffled.

Still thrusting her fingers into Rhea at a pace just underneath of ‘too much’, Edelgard leans her weight on her elbow so she can use her now free hand to go through Rhea’s hair and so her fingers tangle in green locks and brush through them softly at the base of the Archbishops hair. “You’re almost there aren’t you, Rhea?” she hums, her own exhaustion from all this physical labor starting to rear its head, yet the light tremble in her limbs is quite pleasant.

“Hpmh… _Seiros,”_ Rhea chokes out between sounds of pleasure. “Cah- Call me - _ah_ Seiros please.”

Edelgard falters only for a moment in her ministration before picking up the pace again, still her mind is reeling. She knew of course, it was confirmed knowledge among the elite, a handful at Enbarr, two handfuls in Garreg Mach and one or two officials, along with their rulers, in Faerhgus and Almyra.

But to call Rhea by that name was _not_ something you did… unless she asked you to. And so far that had happened only once and the person she had asked had been Byleth.

“Seiros,” she says, the name sounding unfamiliar in this context and tries the saying the word now not as the title of the Church but instead belonging to the woman currently underneath her.

The effect is immediate. Rhea pulls her head back and _smiles_ at Edelgard. “Again,” she whispers in a rare moment of clarity. “El”

Lightning courses through Edelgard at hearing her name like that and almost she wants to pull the saint in for a kiss, but no she has a very important word to say. “Seiros.” Her voice is more confident now, encouraging even. “Seiros, you’re so beautiful like this,” she tells the keening woman, who is being reduced to a pile of noises and shaky breaths now. “You’re doing so well Seiros, are you going to come for me?”

Rhea has gone even more red than she already has, her eyes now glazed over and only hearing her true name is what keeps her somewhat grounded in the present. “Make me come,” is all she can muster, her voice trembling and the words coming out uneven. Edelgard presses a soft, lingering kiss on the Saints lips before laying down more stable and increasing the pace of her thrusts. They’re long and hard, stilling deep inside Rhea for only a moment before she curls them and drags them back out again, only to repeat the motion in quick succession.

Only nonsensical sounds of pleasure come from Rhea as she struggles to keep her eyes open. Edelgard can see she’s almost over the edge, her eyes go wide and for a moment all her sounds still before she breathes out a shaky _“El”_

And with Edelgard’s name on her lips Rhea comes, hard and feverishly. Her arms pull Edelgard down roughly to crash half on top of her as Edelgard helps her ride out her orgasm with shallow thrusts and curls. Rhea tries to kiss her but finds she can’t keep quiet, instead she tangles both her hands into Edelgard’s hair and grabs two fists full of it, eliciting a sharp gasp from Edelgard who is determined to prolong Rhea’s orgasm regardless.

When Rhea’s body begins to jerk Edelgard slows down her assault, each movement of her fingers slower and gentles than the last, leaving Rhea with a residue of pleasure as she lies there panting. Edelgard too is out of breath and after just a moment longer she pulls out her fingers entirely. They’re wet all over and as she crawls properly atop of Rhea her eyes find those deep green ones that are weakly looking back up at her. With a grin Edelgard brings her fingers to her mouth and takes her time to lick them clean, swirling her tongue around them while not breaking eye contact with a rapidly flustering Saint.

Rhea opens her mouth but only a strained noise comes forth and with an embarrassing look she glances away as she sighs deeply. Edelgard simply watches her for a few moments, enjoying the way Rhea’s chest rises and falls with her deep breaths.

“You did well,” she tells the woman underneath her, both of them still catching their breath.

Rhea smiles, genuine and open but with a hint of playfulness. “It felt nice,” she chuckles.

Nice? Edelgard had hoped for at least a good. When she catches Rhea’s playful expression she recalls her own earlier words, asking Rhea if she felt nice. 

“That’s very nice then,” Edelgard says with a chuckle and promptly both women break into giggling. Edelgard leans her head in the crook of Rhea’s shoulder, with one hand she plays with Rhea’s hair while the other caresses her side. “Are you tired?” she asks Rhea.

“No,” comes the mischievous answer.

“Oh… then what do you want to do?”

There is a short bout of silence between them until Rhea giggles again. “I want us to fight.”

Edelgard looks up so she can see the other’s face. “Fight?” she asks incredulously. “Not with weapons I hope?” A tinge of fear makes itself known deep in her belly.

Rhea only laughs. “No my dear, a play fight. To see which of us can force the other on their back in your bed.” She looks unsurely at Edelgard. “We don’t have to do it if you don’t want to of course.”

A burst of excitement flares through Edelgard and with all her pent up frustrations she would love to wrestle Rhea to see which of them could topple the other.

“No Rhea, uhm Seiros. Fight me,” Edelgard says and moves her torso up and straight while still straddling the woman underneath her.

There is a glint in Rhea’s eyes that’s almost menacing but Edelgard sees it as excitement.

Without warning two strong arms wrap around her torso and she’s forced off Rhea, only to be unceremoniously thrown onto the bed with a startled _oomph_. With a grin on her face she quickly turns around and is just in time to see Rhea coming for her, she blocks Rhea’s hands with her own but realizes she won’t hold with how much force the other woman is using.

So instead she moves her hands to her sides and now with nothing to counter Rhea’s force her face plummets against the side of Edelgard’s torso.

Laughing, Edelgard wraps both hands tightly around the taller woman and easily rolls her off of herself, where she gets up to push her further. A short, futile scuffle later now Edelgard has Rhea pinned under her. “That was easy,” she laughs happily as she leans in for a kiss.

Big mistake, as while Rhea kisses her back she snakes her legs over Edelgard’s and with one arm she grabs the Emperor while her other arm pushes herself up from the bed and helps with the momentum of _flipping_ them over.

Edelgard lands with a yelp, followed by more giggles as she now finds herself in quite a predicament, pinned by her former enemy.

“That was easy,” Rhea teases her with a smile on her face.

“Oh _you!”_ Edelgard chides Rhea mockingly. “You haven’t won, not by far,” she drawls victoriously and immediately begins to find a way to wriggle herself out of this.

She finds Rhea’s hair and pulls, causing the other woman to wince in pain and then growl at the girl underneath her. “You play dirty,” she sneers, but still has that playful excitement in her eyes. “I can play dirtier than you, girl.”

“Show me,” Edelgard drawls, daring the other woman to up the stakes.

And she does, gladly.

For the next several moments they continued their odd play fight, where on occasion they’d be a tad too serious and the other would retaliate with a pillow to the face, the other being Edelgard that is. But most of all they were at ease, giggling and laughing, jeering when the other did something one of them found unfair, based on their own arbitrary rules and even stealing kisses whenever they could.

Their wrestling was as fun as it was taxing and at some point both Rhea and Edelgard ended up lying side by side, their heads on the pillows and their fingers entwined, smiling as they’re catching their breath.

“Who won?” Edelgard asks.

“Hmmm,” Rhea muses. “Did we really play to win?”

“No, I suppose not,” Edelgard agrees. “It was just… incredibly exciting,” she laughs quietly. “I can’t remember the last time I giggled so much without a care in the world.”

“One of the many benefits of sex,” Rhea hums.

“Huh?”

“Well, if we weren’t in the middle of sex, would you really be as open to such a childish fight where you could simply play around?” Rhea asks her in a way she already knows the answer to.

Edelgard mulls it over. “No that would be… strange. Inappropriate even, I’m an adult, the Emperor. Why would I…”

“And that is why ‘adults’ get to be a little playful in the bedroom,” Rhea explains with a small smile. “Being serious each waking moment of your life is no way to live.”

Edelgard makes an impressed sound and squeezes Rhea’s hand. “Sometimes I nearly forget how wise you are,” she explains with a small laugh. There’s a teasing insult in her word as well as a compliment.

“And you now think I’m wise again because of my knowledge regarding sex?” Rhea retorts airily. “I’m not sure your priorities to determine when one is wise are straight, Emperor.”

The Saint gets a playful glare shot in her direction. “Not sex, Rhea. No, just how easily you understood the reasons behind this and connected them to the complexity of life itself.”

“Well now you sound quite wise as well.”

Edelgard feels her heart skip a beat as her cheeks fluster and too late does she notice Rhea rolling onto her side, where she gently places a hand on Edelgard’s torso, just underneath her breasts. “You didn’t think we were done now did you?” she drawls in a low voice, a sly smile tugging on her lips. “Or are you too tired?”

Edelgard was having a lot of thoughts up until that point but now only utters a very determined “No,” the sound of which encompasses all that Edelgard is at that moment.

Rhea smiles, and while it’s one of endearment Edelgard feels that the Saint looks quite endearing herself. “Good, I was hoping you’d say that, it’s your turn after all.”

The Emperor had not thought at all about how ‘her turn’ would come to pass, if at all, no all her thoughts had gone to pleasuring Rhea and draw out the reactions the other woman always managed to get out of her.

Meekly she looks up to meet Rhea’s eyes and with a small smile she nods. “What did you have in mind?”

Rhea seems pleased with her question. “The usual,” she says with an air of mischief. “But different.”

Before Edelgard can mull that over in her head soft lips find hers and a moment later she’s caught in a long, slow and sensual kiss that pacifies her thoughts.

When Rhea breaks the kiss all too soon Edelgard makes a noise of complain but promptly gets a finger pressed against her lips. “Hush, my Emperor,” Rhea hums. “I simply need my mouth elsewhere,” she says coyly. “Somewhere better.”

Edelgard has a vague inkling just _where_ that better might be and swallows hard before she nods.

“Come,” Rhea says and gestures to the headboard. “Lay down in those pillows, I want you to feel comfortable.”

Edelgard does as she is told, putting extra pillows under and aside from her so her upper torso, arms and head lie in a bed of pillows. Her head is propped up slightly and so she can watch Rhea kiss a trail down her body, first stopping at her breasts where she takes a nipple in her mouth and plays with the other, making Edelgard feel like putty as quiet whimpers and pleased sounds come from her. She sighs in satisfaction and feels her body relax when Rhea massages both her breasts for a little while. It’s almost dreamy, to be treated like this, so delicately but with so much attention as well.

It feels like... worship.

All too soon Rhea’s mouth and hands leave her breasts and trail down further. Edelgard swallows her sound of protest and instead holds her silence as she watches the electrifying sight of Rhea beginning to kiss down to where she wants it.

Rhea’s fingers trace the long vertical scar on Edelgard’s body, the one she’s always so protective of but now feels so at ease to show in Rhea as well as Byleth. They never mention it but still pay attention to them in their own way. Rhea knows how tense the skin around the tissue can get and often takes a moment to massage the tension out of it. This time too she pauses there for a moment and kneads the flesh, smiling when Edelgard trembles underneath her, faintly smiling back.

With her hand still brushing over the scar her eyes trail down to Edelgard’s Crest mark, the one belonging to Rhea herself, located underneath her left breast. She kisses it almost reverently and even sucks down on the skin on the edge of the mark until it bruises.

The hint of pain is only a thrill for Edelgard at this point, who has seen Rhea do this countless times now. She had asked once, what it meant for her that she had Rhea’s Crest and that both Byleth and herself carried the Crest of Flames.

 _It feels like family,_ Rhea had said and initially Edelgard had thought that to be very weird until she remembered that Rhea was not human, with very little of her family left, and that to Rhea family meant something more akin to _someone of her kind._

_Someone who makes you feel as if you belong._

Edelgard could make peace with that. If it hadn’t been for Rhea giving her blood to Wilhelm all those centuries ago, Edelgard would have never been born in the first place that did entail some connection between them.

The Crest of Flames never got kissed, but often Rhea would stroke it, on occasion Edelgard would catch Rhea’s eyes focusing on it with a melancholic look in her eyes. Perhaps now that they had opened up a little to each other Edelgard could comfort and distract her from the painful feelings Rhea must feel in those moments.

Today Edelgard’s second Crest gets ignored entirely and Rhea kisses down further, places a lingering kiss just underneath Edelgard’s bellybutton before going further.

Rhea shifts her position on the bed, aligning herself at an angle with her legs pointing slightly to the side so she has enough space for herself, before gently spreading Edelgard’s legs open. With wanting eyes she looks up, silently asking for permission.

Edelgard had nearly forgotten she was supposed to lead today and scrambles to find a response. “Please,” she says quietly and with a dry throat, “I really want to feel you there.”

Rhea smiles and nods.

The Emperor is quite sure that _‘please_ ’ is not a word people often use when they’re in charge of something but unlike her touching Rhea earlier, there is a certain gentleness between them now she really doesn’t want to break either.

She watches Rhea wrap her arms around her thighs and shift to lie in a more favorable angle.

Rhea’s lips ghost over her clit and it’s immediately clear to Edelgard there will be no teasing this time, no Rhea is going to devote herself to pleasuring Edelgard. When she first feels that tongue brush the side of her clit, followed by soft swirls around it, she feels as if she’s in heaven. A long soft sound, somewhere between a moan and a satisfied sigh, escapes her lips.

Rhea is meticulous in her pleasuring, her movements are slow but sensually and intense enough that they help build up pleasure in Edelgard. She shifts in the bed and the feeling of the pillows underneath her moving against her back sends long shivers down her spine that just make her feel so comfortable.

After some time of soft licks and swirls of Rhea the woman’s ministrations become more sensual and driven. There’s an intensity in Rhea that’s… different. They have done this before, but not like _this._

Bit by bit Edelgard becomes a more disheveled mess. “Seiros,” she breathes out softly. Rhea looks up and the eye contact between them is electric. Edelgard can’t help but lower her hand and brush her fingers through green locks affectionately.

It’s still not enough and with Rhea’s piercing eyes following her, Edelgard lowers her other hand and intertwines her fingers with those of Rhea, resting their joined hands on her stomach where she brushes her thumb over the side of Rhea’s hand, in some attempt to convey her feelings of affection.

Rhea seems surprised by the gesture, her tongue stilling nearly completely as she stares with wide eyes at Edelgard first and then to their joined hands.

“I wanted to feel you a little more,” Edelgard explains with a blush.

Rhea stares up at her a moment longer before lowering her head, but instead of Edelgard’s clit she goes lower and the warmth of her tongue and the licks up and down her folds make Edelgard tremble and inhale sharply. Goddess, she never wants this to end.

Rhea doesn’t seem intent on rushing things either as she meticulously takes Edelgard apart with her tongue, licking up all the wetness from her folds, pressing into her so deeply Edelgard squirms and cries out in pleasure, going back up to pleasure Edelgard more directly again, it’s all slow but intense and Edelgard can feel the dedication Rhea has with each movement of her tongue.

“Right there Seiros,” she murmurs hazily when Rhea finds a particular good spot.

Edelgard inhales deeply at the pleasurable sensations growing inside her. “Yes, there, keep doing that,” she sighs as she squeezes their hands.

Rhea is merciless in her slow assault, taking her sweet time in tasting Edelgard while slowly building towards her orgasm. Edelgard is all pants and shaky breaths and gasps among soft or long moans. She lets it all happen as she’s feels the first sensations that she’s beginning to get close.

“Goddess, Seiros you’re making me feel so good,” she breathes out airily. Shifting her head up so she can look down at Rhea, where Edelgard sees a mischievous glint in the Archbishop’s eyes.

Oh the _Goddess._ Edelgard had asked her once what she thought of people crying for the Goddess during these intimate moments. Rhea had laughed and said she saw it as compliment, that even amidst passion where one is oh so vulnerable, mankind called out for the Goddess.

Edelgard had decided right there and then that she would _never_ utter it again out of spite. But then sometime later Edelgard was pleasuring Rhea, her fingers deep inside her and with the Saint almost over the edge Rhea _too_ moaned out the word _Goddess._ Edelgard hadn’t mentioned it then, for both their sanities. No, instead she asked the next day where the two of them were alone. When she brought it up it immediately became very apparent that that was _not_ a topic to be discussed, nor was it in any way relevant and Edelgard had relented, deciding she would add Goddess back into her vocabulary, reasoning that no one was very eloquent or right in their mind in the heights of pleasure.

Pleasurable lightning shoots through Edelgard’s body and jolts her out of her thoughts, she’s close, very close.

Goddess she wants to come but… but she wants to be close to Rhea, to feel her hot skin against her own. She feels so feverish and needs more contact.

“Seiros, wait,” Edelgard utters, surprised she’s panting.

Rhea looks up curiously, and almost seems sad she wasn’t allowed to continue. “I want your fingers,” Edelgard breaths out. “In me, I want to come around your fingers, please,” She rasps, hoping her words aren’t too demanding, too weird.

The Saint looks a little dejected. “Do you not enjoy my tongue?” she asks, her voice too vulnerable for Edelgard to bear.

“No, of course I did, it feels wonderful, delightful even. You make me feel so good… but I want to feel you close when I come, to touch you and hold you,” Edelgard explains clumsily, hoping she didn’t hurt the Saint’s feelings while also feeling terribly exposed at the same time.

Rhea looks at her for a moment longer, a determined smile lingering on her lips, before she moves her body over to the side of Edelgard and pulls herself up until she’s sitting next to Edelgard. “Come,” she says and pats her outstretched legs.

That was not what Edelgard had expected but her body is being very adamant that the lust and frustrations she feels get a release, so dutifully she climbs atop Rhea, straddling her with a leg on each side.

“There, now you’re the one on top after all,” Rhea smiles, visibly pleased with herself, before capturing Edelgard’s lips in a long slow but intense kiss, preventing Edelgard from talking back and telling her that comment was _silly._

Moments into the kiss she feels Rhea’s hand slide down her stomach until it reaches her now soaked patch of white hair, it's leaking down her thighs at this point. The other hand snakes behind Edelgard and is placed on her lower back to keep her steady and upright enough that Rhea’s wrist has enough space to move.

This time there is no teasing or a slow buildup, something Edelgard immensely appreciates. Two fingers circle around and over her clit but the second Edelgard lets out a moan the fingers dip lower, brushing along the entrance.

“Please,” Edelgard chokes out as she trembles. “I really want to feel you like this.”

With Edelgard’s words in her mind, Rhea wastes no time and slides both fingers in with ease.

A low sound of satisfaction comes from Edelgard, that initial moment of being filled always making her feel so good, so out of it. Rhea presses her fingers in deeper and Edelgard squirms in delight.

The Saint pulls her fingers out and Edelgard doesn’t even have time to miss the feeling of being filled because not a moment later Rhea thrusts back in with more intensity than before and starts building to a quick pace. Immediately Edelgard is a mess, her hands grabbing onto Rhea’s shoulders to keep herself steady, while she feebly tries to grind herself on Rhea’s fingers. It adds to the pleasure, but it’s oh so exhausting to do. Still even that exhaustion feels pleasurable now, with her limbs aching and shaking lightly.

“Seiros, keep going,” she half orders, half asks the green haired woman. “I’m already so close.”

Rhea hums and presses a soft kiss to her cheek. “As you wish, little Emperor,” she smiles.

Edelgard is left with a flurry of emotions among the pleasure, that kiss was so tender, and so was her voice. What does that mean? Edelgard feels too good right now, the rhythmic trusting picking away at her mind, and all she feels is _love_.

_I love you._

The words nearly slip from her mouth and while the thought is terrifying, her feelings currently are not. Still, it’s not the right time to say it, Rhea might not even want to hear it.

“I love this,” she settles on, opening her eyes to search for Rhea’s. They’re wide and still so tender, looking happy that Edelgard is enjoying herself. With a small smile she speaks, “me too.”

Edelgard will have to think hard and long over what those two words of Rhea meant. …Later.

Instead she leans down to capture the other's lips in a fierce kiss, keeping their lips locked and their tongues leisurely swirling around each other as Edelgard, and Rhea as well moan into the kiss. It helps her focus on the physical, on her thoughts and most of all of Rhea, who pulls her tighter to deepen their kiss, gently rubbing Edelgard's back all the while.

After what feels like minutes Rhea breaks the kiss yet doesn't stop or even slow her fingers pumping into Edelgard. "I want to watch you," she says as Edelgard takes a moment to capture her breath, gasping and moaning while steadying herself on Rhea's shoulders once more before searching for green orbs.

Rhea keeps looking up at her, drinking in the sight of Edelgard, consuming every sound she makes with intense open eyes that focus only on her. It’s terrifying, to be seen in such a vulnerable state, with her orgasm fast approaching, but it’s also exhilarating and even liberating, that someone wants to see her in such a state with such devotion. It almost feels like worship.

It’s thrilling and oh, Edelgard really enjoys being watched. Rhea really excels in bringing out the worst in her. Well, then they can just sin together.

The realization sends a spark of pleasure straight to her groin and suddenly her orgasm is about to overwhelm her. “Seiros I’m almost there,” she chokes out, her eyes still meeting green ones. Underneath her she feels Rhea’s hand shift and suddenly the palm of her hand presses and rubs against her clit while Rhea’s fingers keep up their intense pace.

“Sei-ah!” Edelgard cries out, leaning her head back with a moan as she grinds down harder on Rhea’s finger in tandem with the Saint’s fingers thrusting upwards.

Her legs are trembling from exhaustion but the weakness in them only feels more pleasurable at this point, with some struggle she leans forward again and finds green eyes waiting for her there.

Without warning Rhea increases the speed of her fingers and palm, pressing deeper and harder.

“Seiros,” Edelgard cries out. “I’m... ah, I’m _aah,”_ Before she could finish her sentence her orgasm crashes over her like a strong wave, she manages to maintain eye contact for maybe a second before it become too much and she lowers her head, steadying herself with her hands on each of Rhea’s shoulders,

Quickly she’s reduced to loud moans, whimpers and shaky breaths as she keeps riding Rhea’s fingers with clumsy but feverish need.

Rhea keeps the pace going, drawing out Edelgard’s orgasm as long as possible and only when Edelgard’s sounds become gasps and whimpers does she slow down along with Edelgard, who is shaking so much she’s threatening to lose balance. Rhea pulls her fingers out and with practiced ease she lowers Edelgard on top of her so that her groin is leaning on Rhea’s lower stomach. With a shaky exhale Edelgard slumps down, draping herself over Rhea’s torso and burying her head deep in green hair where she nuzzles her face against Rhea’s neck.

Two arms wrap tightly around her making her feel so safe, so at ease that all she wants to do right now is lie there for a while as she catches her breath, and promptly she relaxes her body.

As she lies there, scrambled atop of Rhea and held in a warm embrace, she finds that she’s not only hearing her own panting Rhea’s as well. Now that she focuses on it she can feel he quick, rhythmic heartbeat of Rhea against her own chest.

Edelgard takes another few moments to regain her bearings, using the calming sound of that heartbeat as an anchor. “That was exhausting,” she half says, half giggles, slightly delirious from the afterglow.

Underneath her Rhea shifts. “Exhausting? I was hoping for something more akin to explosive,” she says in mock hurt.

Edelgard can’t help but laugh. “Oh that too, terribly explosive. You’re very skilled,” she pants. “I merely meant that we’re both trembling from exhaustion and still haven’t caught our breath. But I don’t mind, I feel really good right now.”

Rhea seems content with her response and begins to gently stroke Edelgard’s back with her hands, causing the Emperor to squirm in delight. She’s so sensitive right now. Her own free hand finds Rhea’s shoulder and lightly brushes over it, occasionally going behind her shoulder to play with locks of green hair.

They gently touch and caress each other like that until Rhea sighs contently and pulls Edelgard a little harder against her.

“Did you enjoy yourself today?” she asks and Edelgard detects the tiniest bit of insecurity in her voice.

“I had hoped that would have been apparent in the way I acted,” Edelgard responds. “The sounds I made alone should pacify you-”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Rhea interrupts her. “Although I’m glad to hear you say that.” Edelgard can hear the smile in her voice and it makes her smile as well. “No, what I meant was if you like things like _this._ The change today I mean. Would you like to do it again sometime… or keep doing it?”

Rhea sounded so unsure of herself it was almost endearing, but the question came as a surprise to Edelgard. “You’d let me?” she asks, suddenly curious as to what that entails.

“Yes,” Rhea says and Edelgard feels the woman nod as her face is lying against Rhea’s neck. “I’m quite, uhm, flexible, so to speak.”

Edelgard chuckles. “Flexible huh, well that makes me very curious just what you have in mind.”

The Archbishop stiffens a little in embarrassment. “Well… a lot,” she says, her voice a tad too high for her to sound calm. “I could teach you, if you want,” she adds quietly.

Edelgard raises her head to look at Rhea. “Teach me? What is there left that I have to be taught?”

To her surprise Rhea begins to laugh, mirthfully so, and Edelgard might have felt a bit offended if Rhea didn’t look so beautiful like that. “Oh my dear, there is so much I could teach you. Words, commands, techniques, how to both play a role of sorts,” she says and she sounds a _little_ too excited for Edelgard’s comfort. “And then there are the thing like tools and toys of course,” she says, now sounding even more excited.

“Tools? _Toys?_ ” Edelgard bristles. “Aren’t those for… I don’t know, weird people?” she asks bashfully and with a flustered face.

“Would you call me normal?” Rhea quips, an air of whimsical mischief around her.

“Well… no,’ Edelgard admits. “And I suppose I can’t call myself normal either. …Partly thanks to _you_ though,” she says and glares playfully at the Saint.

“I’m glad,” Rhea says and sounds downright _cheeky_. “That means we can be together,” she finishes airily.

The Emperor flusters at once because of the implications of Rhea’s words. _Together._ And promptly buries her head in the woman’s neck again. “In due time,” she stubbornly mutters there. “I’m still reeling from today.”

Rhea chuckles softly and continues caressing her back, making Edelgard feel how exhausted she truly is. Taking a last glance at the windows and seeing that nightfall has almost settles in she lets her body go slack and gets comfortable in Rhea’s arms, too afraid to ask if the Archbishop will leave again.

Minutes later –how many she cannot tell- she’s on the verge of being claimed by sleep when she feels Rhea grab her sides gently as she’s made to lay on the matrass next to Rhea instead. Edelgard murmurs something incorrigible and when she gets no response as Rhea moves to the side of the bed she’s sure the woman will leave again. The thought is even more heartbreaking than she thought.

But then she hears a soft click and when she opens her eyes she sees that Rhea turned off the small oil lamp she kept by her bed and is now coming back, grabbing the thin blankets to cover both Edelgard and herself.

“You’re staying?” Edelgard asks quietly, her surprise evident in her words.

She hears Rhea chuckle but there is something warm in her voice. “I’m hoping you’ll let me,” she says. “It is considered rude to kick a lady out after all of that you know?” she adds with a teasing lilt in her voice. Apparently she doesn’t feel like waiting for an answer because while Edelgard turns to lie on her back Rhea pulls the blanket over both of them and in one motion she wraps her arm around Edelgard’s torso, pressing the length of her body against Edelgard as well.

“There,” she states. “Much better.”

Edelgard is silent for a while before speaking up.

“I’m happy you’re staying Seiros,” she murmurs, feeling her cheeks fluster.

“Me too El”

**Author's Note:**

> I secretly like the idea of Rhea being vaguely shit at feeling pleasure well because she has a little bit of dragon in her even in human shape and that simply Does Not Mix. Also thousand years of memories to plague your mind at all times so she needs a few intense emotions to Get Off.
> 
> Maybe I'll actually grow a pair and write a sequel threesome fic to this so Byleth gets the joy of watching both her gfs being extra Extra.


End file.
